Well, the “little thing unfolds into a bigger thing” use case is somewhat appealing, assuming the little thing isn’t overly compromised (funky aspect ratio, can’t run most apps, bulky, fragile hinge) or the bigger thing isn’t overly compromised (again, the big one is funky aspect ratio). I find folding clamshell designs less compelling, the big issue being that they don’t necessarily protect the screens the way a traditional clamshell would and are unusable without unfolding. The latter is less of an issue here because the bottom can be a control surface (you still have to open it, but you don’t have to open it all the way).
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How Would a MacBook With a Foldable Display Work?
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This is just something no one wants, like a touch screen on a laptop that Apple thankfully didn't bother with.
MacRumors is just putting out "click bait" with this totally speculative, most likely unfounded pile of bull scatterings. Grow up MacRumor! Learn to write real journalism, not this made up, imaginary garbage you pump out more often than not these days. You are worse than Popular Mechanics magazine ever was.
Laptops fold, so that's not new -- now add the ability to have a larger screen. That sized laptop would have a TINY screen if it were a traditional laptop given the outer dimensions.
Just like all the other foldables, smaller carry around package, bigger screen when you need it. A lot of people like me, really like smaller to carry around devices. One of my phones is a Samsun Galaxy Flip 3, and it fits in pockets much easier than the phone it replaced (an iPhone 11 Pro Max).
This may be anecdotal as well, but I know of plenty of people who almost exclusively use a single laptop for all their ['real'] work. A desktop is typically much more powerful than a laptop is (unless we're comparing an M1 MacBook to an M1 iMac); yet, by no means are today's laptops under-powered. In fact, today, an M1 laptop is more powerful than plenty of people's existing desktops. There seems to me to be a growing trend of professionals ditching traditional desktops and instead choosing high-end portable devices, and the M1 switch is a further driver of this. At this point, the only people who badly need a Mac Pro or similar are those doing specific work that just happens to require more computing power — not necessarily that their work is any more serious than that of someone who primarily uses a laptop.
A tablet running macOS would be nice, but it would still just be a tablet. I think the interesting thing about a laptop that can unfold into a large tablet — a tablet which can also be attached to peripherals and then used as one large screen — is that it would provide more versatility than either a traditional laptop or a traditional tablet. Effectively, it can be used as all three: a tablet, a laptop, and a sit-down home computer. It may not be quite 27" when unfolded, but it could still be sizeable. Imagine a screen whose size is about equal to the surface area of a 16" MacBook Pro's screen + case/palm rest: it would be easily portable, when folded; large enough to be a desktop screen, when unfolded. I concede, though, that the aspect ratio would be quite odd... which I am sure would lead to Apple needing to put significant energy into coming up with a design for such a system. But, consider that two screens clamshell'd together won't necessarily have a footprint any larger than that of a traditional laptop.
Update: I've also shared my thoughts, here, on the recently released patent describing a minicomputer built into an Apple keyboard. While this could contradict some of what I said, I think that such a product is a great idea as well — if but less useful than an unfolding laptop screen.
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It must be fun to come up with these concept images, but it'd be even more fun for us all if they took a few seconds to consider the validity of the ideas. A foldable iPad might be ok as it doesn't have a physical keyboard to begin with, but an all-screen laptop? Hell no. The only thing it would achieve is to come up with a keyboard design even worse than the infamous butterfly mk1. And the only step down from that would be to use Apple Watch's interface for a laptop. A dial, a tiny touchscreen and .... Siri. "Hey siri, let's write a document" -"calling mom!" -"nooooo" -"deleting all of your files...done." -"oh crap" -"calling mom!".
But seriously, a foldable iPad would be fun. Being able to lug even an iPad Mini sized screen in your pocket would be useful. but only if it actually worked and I'm not aware of any materials that'd make that happen. If the thickness doubles, I'm no longer interested. I'm ok with it increasing a bit, of course, but even then I'd rather see it be because of an increased battery size rather than gimmicks.
But seriously, a foldable iPad would be fun. Being able to lug even an iPad Mini sized screen in your pocket would be useful. but only if it actually worked and I'm not aware of any materials that'd make that happen. If the thickness doubles, I'm no longer interested. I'm ok with it increasing a bit, of course, but even then I'd rather see it be because of an increased battery size rather than gimmicks.
Why not go full tech and have it like a resizable window , pull it from the top RHS and you can have it any size you want up to say 17 inches ? Just like we do in the os but physically … or is that a silly idea ?